The SR-71 Blackbird Is So Fast It Just Accelerates To Evade Incoming Missileshttp://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-sr-71-blackbird-2012-11/comments
en-usWed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500Tue, 31 Mar 2015 17:15:11 -0400Walter Hickey, Robert Johnson and Geoffrey Ingersollhttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a64900eab8ea6267000005rncFri, 16 Nov 2012 09:09:04 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a64900eab8ea6267000005
Kind of like the SU building a submarine (Alfa) that could go faster and dive deeper than our torpedoes, it was a test platform for technology, large scale titanium construction, nuclear reactors designs, elecronics, automations, various detection methods (other than sonar), etc., but of course in the soviet way that meant building 20-30, everyone different is some ways to the one built before it* or so of them, but led to amazing minturization of electronics and automation (why the russian sub types usually have about 1/2 the crew of us equiv.)
*noisey as hell over 4-5 knots, but the idea was to build fleets of them like airwings to be able to reach the us carrier groups before they were in range of launching thier planes. The soviets still operate 4 titanium (outer hull) sierra II class subs (again in the SU way, they built two new attack sub programs, the sierra class made from titanium and the Akula class made from boron-steel, Akula won out in end due to costs), but the soviets are upgrading the sierra's due to the strength, weight, and speed advantages, now that they have the ability to build props and propulsers that our as quite as ours, once again they have a weapon that we can't reach.(along super-cavitating underwater missiles)http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a53d896bb3f7b55f00001aThamir GhaslanThu, 15 Nov 2012 14:07:53 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a53d896bb3f7b55f00001a
Given that the center looks like a rocket, with the two engines looking like rockets, no surprise it can outrun rockets!http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a4686069beddd87900000ercilWed, 14 Nov 2012 22:58:24 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a4686069beddd87900000e
Absolutely incredible that it was designed with slide rules in the 50s and used unheard of technology for the time like titaniumhttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a46854ecad04e06f00000drncWed, 14 Nov 2012 22:58:12 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a46854ecad04e06f00000d
Yes there are atleast two seperate occasions they've been brought back into service, think one involved bosnia and the other I can't recall, sometimes sat. can't get an answer fast enough. And you figure the SR-71 was designed in the 50's, adjusted for inflation our country spends around $40-50 billion a year on black projects and have been since the MIC got hold, so if that plane was designed 60 years ago, the F117 was designed and active in the early-mid 70's, I could only imagine what we have that we don't know about,http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a466b969bedd2c77000027rncWed, 14 Nov 2012 22:51:21 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a466b969bedd2c77000027
Aesthetically yes (and a technological marvel in its own right), but with a radar signature 10 times that of a b-52 due to the inlets and the russians SAM development so much greater and faster than we ever anticipated, not a single one of those would have ever reached its target. There's a book on the AF's 30 year quest to build a replacement for the B-52, started with the B-70, then the B1-A and finally the B1-B, despite the wishes or direct orders from Ike, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Carter. I mean sabatoging cruise missile development (thats why the tomahawk was a joint program. but developed entirely by the navy), delaying stealth development so when the 100th and final B1 was delivered, not a single one was operational as the defensive systems cancelled out the offensive systems, the AF knew this, but also knew if they delayed the B2 would be ready and they wanted thier bomber, even after over 20 upgrade programs costing several times the original plane cost, at no time has it ever achieved a greater than 20% readiness rate. The B1 is the most worthless weapon system this country has ever developed (that's why 5 presidents, from both parties, tried to stop it). We just called it our main air nuclear part of the triad b/c we knew that wasn't going to happen, so no one really knew they didn't work and just sat on the ground, while the B-52 still makes up our primary bomber option.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a43904eab8eaf457000022Mark N.Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:36:20 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a43904eab8eaf457000022
I got in line at the checkout stand of my local grocery store probably about a year ago, and the guy in front of me turned out to be an ex-AF pilot. He was willing to swear on a stack of Bibles that there are some of these that are still either actually in service, or can be put back in service at a moment's notice.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a4329deab8ea3350000009Mark out WestWed, 14 Nov 2012 19:09:01 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a4329deab8ea3350000009
I wouldn't call it a failure. More like a victim of changing circumstances with the AF's shift to low-altitude penetration bombing. The SR-71 maintained effectiveness as a stand-off reconaissance platform, flying alongside the border and peeking in from 80K feet. Bombers don't have that luxury. Even the B-58, another looker, got caught up by the shift to low-level.
And the epic crash of the second, improved prototype didn't help.
Plus, the epic crash of the second prototype didn't help. Still, a lot of design data ended up in the B-1 and Concorde.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a43273eab8eaf554000003C FraserWed, 14 Nov 2012 19:08:19 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a43273eab8eaf554000003
Beautiful but not so badass. Note the SR-71's 11,000 + hours at mach 3. The XB-70 exceeded mach 3 on 10 flights for a total of 108 minutes over a five year period. On 14 October 1965, AV-1 surpassed Mach 3, but heat and stress damaged the honeycomb panels, leaving 2 ft (0.6 m) of the leading edge of the left wing missing. The first aircraft was limited to Mach 2.5 afterwardshttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a42f28ecad04140a000001C FraserWed, 14 Nov 2012 18:54:16 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a42f28ecad04140a000001
Not so Badass though. Designed to cruise at Mach 3 it managed a total of 108 minutes at that speed. That was over 10 seperate flights during the five year period the aircraft flew. Thirty of those minutes were on one flight so take that one out and you are looking at an average of less than 10 minutes at design speed on every flight where it got ot Mach 3. Beautiful, yes, but a failure.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a42e006bb3f7ae5d000028C FraserWed, 14 Nov 2012 18:49:20 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a42e006bb3f7ae5d000028
The decision to shut down the Shuttle program was made in 2004 during the Bush Administration. Obama was an Illinois State Senator at the time and I doubt he had input into the decision. Shutting it down without a replacement in place was a decision I don't like but let's get the attribution about whose decision it was right.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a42d39ecad04b205000003Mark out WestWed, 14 Nov 2012 18:46:01 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a42d39ecad04b205000003
Gotta disagree. The most aesthetically perfect weapon ever produced was the XB-70. Badass and beauty all in one package.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a41d5969bedda347000001Mark out WestWed, 14 Nov 2012 17:38:17 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a41d5969bedda347000001
Yeah, back when America had sack. X-15, XB-70, SR-71, Saturn V, still retain their records. Sad commentary on us today.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a41147ecad04d34f000008edWed, 14 Nov 2012 16:46:47 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a41147ecad04d34f000008
Agreed, Seeing and hearing that thing (or its afterburners at least) take off out of Kadena was awesome. ONly at night and you could see it climb out fast.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a401e9ecad04b02c00000drncWed, 14 Nov 2012 15:41:13 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a401e9ecad04b02c00000d
The space shuttle program was a disaster from the start due to it being the 1st nasa/AF based program, it had to be designed to launch from california against the curvature of the earth so it could drop a single neutron bomb on moscow w/o the russians ever even knowing it was coming (of course once we realized they had implemented the peremater(sp) system (think of Whopper from wargames), actually the Russian system went online in 82'/83', it autonomously monitored sat., radar and siesmic data,if it believed a nuclear attacked had occured it tried to communicate with moscow through dedicated sat. laser relay and probably every analog and digital spectrum possible, if no reply, there was one person b/t it and the launching of 100's of rockets all over the SU all transmitting the launch codes), made the military plan worthless and those requirements made it almost worthless as a civilian space vehicle because of weight and such (what would be called "a capital intensive delivery system" where re-usable meant basically months of repairs before it could fly again), hell even the SU built one, just for actual space exploration and thier math showed how uneconomical it was (if the SU decided something cost to much, it cost to much). If it wasn't for congress passing a law in the 80's that all military sat. had to be delivered via the shuttle it would have died 20 years earlier than it did.
SR-71 vs. A-12, the A-12 (CIA) was the original recon. plane made for direct flyover, ofcourse once the SU developed SAM's that could reach 80k ft at mach 5, that pretty much shot that one down. The SR-71 was originally an interceptor for the AF (when we thought the SU was going to build the T-4, instead they built the Tu-22), the phoenix missile system (F-14) was developed for it, thus the two seats and ability to carry much more gear, b/c no radar up front and no missile bays. It flew w/in a few miles of SU airspace along the artic and at an angle and it's altitude the cameras and radar were pretty much able to cover the entire country in a single flyover (mach 3.2 is the published speed, no one outside of a few know how fast it can really go). But the most beautiful plane ever made (from titanium imported from the SU).http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3fda3ecad046228000008H BogartWed, 14 Nov 2012 15:22:59 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3fda3ecad046228000008
Yes, as the military would say, the federal budget is a target rich environment. As are state and local budgets (at least here in the great state of CA). We need to take a chainsaw to ALL areas of the budget. Or maybe a 30mm chain gun with depleted uranium slugs.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3f43969bedd6956000015WhatWed, 14 Nov 2012 14:42:49 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3f43969bedd6956000015
This isn't news. They don't fly these any more. They don't even have shows about these on History Channel any more. This is like a terrible repost from Reddit.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3f12beab8ea553c00000frealllyWed, 14 Nov 2012 14:29:47 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3f12beab8ea553c00000f
...but never mind the spending on Social Security, Medicare, record food stamps, section 8 housing, farm subsidies, green energy subsidies, Obamaphones, Solyndra, unfunded gold plated federal retirement, Bank bailouts, Auto bailouts, QE, operation twist, zero percent fed window, shut down drilling, no new oil pipelines, killing of the coal industry, and Obamacare chasing jobs overseas...those things will never bankrupt America...just the military…Yes I get it.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3efb5ecad04f80f00000fHJBWed, 14 Nov 2012 14:23:33 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3efb5ecad04f80f00000f
Yeah and by killing the space shuttle program NASA has now opened up space flight to private companies who can deliver on what the space shuttle was doing at a fraction of the cost.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3eeeaecad048b0b00000aUncle FesterWed, 14 Nov 2012 14:20:10 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3eeeaecad048b0b00000a
When I was a child, I saw the Habu (aka the SR-71) take off in Okinawa. Stunning to watch. When I drive past the Intrepid on the West Side, I always give it the thumps up.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3e2796bb3f79856000004joan of snarcWed, 14 Nov 2012 13:27:05 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3e2796bb3f79856000004
I pity the next president that inherits the post Obama country, because we will be bankrupted by military spending.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3e10569bedd9c2d00000crealllyWed, 14 Nov 2012 13:20:53 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3e10569bedd9c2d00000c
Clinton killed off the last SR-71 back in the 90's...just like how Obama killed off the space shuttle.
I pitty the next president that inherits the post Obama military.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3e0d4ecad042f72000006BHWed, 14 Nov 2012 13:20:04 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3e0d4ecad042f72000006
Twenty years ago, a Vietnam vet told me that America peaked in the 60s. I had no idea what he was talking about.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3de22ecad04946d00001aDepressionWed, 14 Nov 2012 13:08:34 -0500http://www.businessinsider.com/c/50a3de22ecad04946d00001a
that plane was all WIN .